Rescued
by Around Here Somewhere
Summary: There was no way Fitz was going to make the same mistake twice. He had already been hurt much more than he ever thought possible, and he wasn't going to go to that place again. OlivIa Pope has everything in the world, including the envy of every woman in America, and the eyes of every man in the world. So why is it that she's melting down on the personal level? AU.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever own anything that you find in this story that relates to Scandal. I simply love the characters.

A/n: So, I've been sitting on this one for a while, because I could not for life of me make the story line realistic enough for myself to get into it. However, I had an epiphany about it. I am aware that I have other stories to be working on – but I need something happy(er) and fun(er)… so enjoy :) (And seriously, get your imaginations ready for this first chapter!)

Rescued

Chapter One

Fitz could feel the sun beating down on the top of his head even through his hat. He pulled it off, quickly wiped the sweat away with his free arm, and then put his hat back on, pushing down his hair as he did. The batter started his walk from the bench, and the pitcher – his best friend since grade school, Parker – stretched out his arm. Los Angeles was brutal mid-June, which was why Fitz had voted they have the annual LA County Fire vs. Police charity game in May. That way they wouldn't have had to spend so much keeping everyone hydrated, but he tried not to harp on it as he fixed his sunglasses. He wasn't really worried about his guys in the heat, just the cops. He watched as one of their rookies took a couple of test swings like he thought he was in the majors or something. He looked over to the man on first base, and gave him a look for even trying to lead. It was fun playing ball again, when they were kids it was the exact same him on first, and Parker on the mound.

Parker turned around to check first as soon as the kid finally decided to step up into the batter's box and signal he was ready. They exchanged quick smirks just before Parker threw a fast one right over the plate. Not expecting it so quick, the batter swung early and sent a foul fly ball right down the first base line. Fitz ran over with his glove outstretched until he caught it. They were done, and for the sixth year in a row, they had beaten them. And, by a particularly embarrassing deficit this year, Fitz noted to himself as he ran to the mound with the rest of the team.

"I bet it's just like that in the bunks, too," One of the passing officers called.

"Hey," Parker heard him – he was a little bit of a hot-head, this was going to be bad, "Don't you have a donut to be eating or something?"

"Wait," Another said, pretending to be scared, "Is that a cat in a tree?"

"Really?" Fitz feigned gullibility, "Well maybe you guys should help it. Work off a few of our snacks so maybe you can actually compete with us next year."

"Ow," Parker said with a smile, "I believe that's what we call a burn."

"Gentlemen!" The Captain called from by the bench, "C'mon, we have to get back to the station. There's a fire in West Hollywood. They might need some back up if it doesn't go out soon."

"Yes, Sir," Fitz called as both teams started heading towards the parking lot.

"Watch it, pretty boy," said the Rookie.

"I'd watch your wife if I was you," Parker piped up as the two groups split to go to different sections of the parking lot, "Because she was giving him the eyes the whole damn game."

"Don't cause extra trouble, Park," Fitz said as they got into Fitz's pickup truck, "It's not worth it."

"I was just giving him a head's up," Parker replied, "He probably saw her ogling us all game."

"I'm surprised you even noticed. She was over twenty and more than a hundred pounds."

"You mock."

"I'm very sorry," Fit fake apologized as they hit the road - he liked teasing his buddy about the number of college aged girls that he went through on the monthly basis.

"Enough, It's different now," Parker said, "The point is, you have to get back on the saddle."

"No thanks," Fitz said, and Parker rolled his eyes, "Been there, done that. I gave her a ring."

"You can't keep pining away for Sarah," Parker pointed out.

"You're right, she was a bitch," Fitz said, "There's no way in hell I want her back. But I'm also not really looking at the moment. I still can't believe you let me propose to her…"

"Well, under the circumstances… it doesn't matter," Parker said, "You should come out with me tonight."

"No."

"Oh, c'mon," Parker said, as they stopped at a light, "You're only twenty-four. You're so serious, all the time. Trust me, the girls at the party tonight are going to be desperate for a guys who aren't drinking straight from the keg and belching their ABC's."

"I don't want to go."

"Come on," Parker said, smiling like it was going to help his case.

"That's not helping," Fitz informed him, "I're tired – wait. Why're you going? We have the morning shift. We have to be at the station at six am."

"Jess wants me there."

"You have a problem," Fitz teased, "Has she asked you to pull out the trampoline yet?"

"She's cute. I like her. A lot."

"She's a teenager," Fitz pointed out and Parker rolled his eyes.

"She's nineteen."

Nevertheless, his comment seemed to shut Parker up until he got them back to the firehouse. The captain had just sounded the alarm that they were headed to West Hollywood, and Fitz walked in and stripped down to his boxers so that he could throw on a t-shirt and a normal pair of pants before putting on his equipment. His pants, suspenders, boots, jacket, and threw on his helmet last. By the time they got there, the fire was mostly under control – it was just the heat exhaustion that was kicking in. They would finish off so that the West Hollywood guys could take a break and recover. It had to be about a hundred and thirty degrees just standing right outside the fire with the combination of the heat from the day and the flames. He could feel beads of sweat dripping down his face under his face shield.

All Fitz knew was that he had never been more thankful to get home and get a shower. He let the water run cold for a little while, just standing in the stream and letting it cool his body down for a minute. It had been a long day, but maybe tomorrow would be a little less eventful. He was hoping, because after four hours in the sun at the charity game, and then clean up at the fire, he was just about as exhausted as he thought he could be. He walked out of the shower and threw on a t-shirt and jeans to go down to his kitchen to grab some Gatorade. After chugging the entire bottle, he felt a little better, and ran his hand back through his wet hair.

"Fitz! Open up!" He could hear Parker call through the front door, and he rolled his eyes.

"How do you have any energy right now?" Fitz asked as he walked over to his door and swung it open for him to come in.

"Good, you're dressed. Let's go."

"I'm going to bed in about six seconds," Fitz told him.

"C'mon, I need you there."

"For what?"

"I'm gonna ask her to be…"

"No," Fitz's jaw dropped as he reached behind him and grabbed a button up from on the hook, "Seriously? _You're_ going to have a girlfriend?"

"If she says yes," Parker said, "But I need my wingman there."

"Fine," Fitz said as he buttoned up his shirt and followed him out the door.

The party was at an off campus apartment just outside of UCLA, and it was almost at the point where he could have left and no one would have known. But it wasn't quite there yet. He walked into the kitchen, where Parker and Jess were entangled near the fridge. At least Parker's big question had gone well for him, Jess had just about burst with happiness when he had pulled her into the corner to ask. Fitz had stayed behind and chatted with her friends while they talked.

"Fitz," Parker said, peeling himself away from Jess to lean against the fridge, "You can go – Jess is going to drop me at the station in the morning, so I don't need a ride home."

He hadn't been worried about that.

"What's going on?" Fitz had known Parker long enough to know when he was trying to hide panic.

Jess took a deep breath, then took off into the party.

"Well – " Parker started, but Fitz saw what he was trying to keep him from.

Across the room Sarah was sitting on the couch in a particularly flowy shirt and had a Mike's in her hand. She had drank about a few sips of it, but he had a feeling it wasn't her first.

"Just go. It's not your problem anymore," Parker told him and Fitz shot him a glare before pushing his way over to her.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Fitz asked her, then spotted her little sister passed out next to her.

"I came with Annie," She shrugged, "Didn't know and didn't care you were going to be here."

"Where's Jake?" He asked and she rolled her eyes, "Ok."

He took the bottle from her hand and picked her up right off the couch, carefully carrying her out of the house, making sure that it was ok that Annie stayed the night, and out to his truck. She was a little more in the can than he had thought, but she started to punch at his back as he put her in his truck carefully, sitting her in place.

"What the fuck are you doing, Fitz?"

"That's a pretty good question for you," Fitz slammed the truck door and stalked around the hood.

"What do you care?"

"You're three months pregnant, or did you forget after your first drink?" Fitz shot angrily at her, "So, to answer your question I'm bringing you back to Jake's house. Because you're his problem now."

"He's a dick."

"I agree," Fitz said, rolling his eyes – only his Ex was this crazy.

"Shut up. Don't be a sore loser."

"Loser? Yeah, I don't see it that way," Fitz said as he recognized the look on her face, and pulled over to the side of the road.

She opened up the door, and then leaned her head out. Promptly puking what he had to assume was the entire contents of her stomach. Just when he thought it was physically impossible for her to have anything else in there, she sat back up and barely got the door closed again before she passed out against the window. Ten minutes later, he pulled into Jake's driveway and left the truck running but parked when he got out of the car. He walked around and unbuckled her, then carried her up to the front door. He set her down, he chuckled to himself a little thinking about Jake trying to carry her up the stairs, and rang the doorbell.

"The fuck are you doing here?" Jake answered the door.

"Just dropping off your girlfriend," Fitz said, "She's drunk. You should probably keep a better eye on her. At least for the next few months."

"First time, I swear," Jake knelt down.

Yeah, sure.

He turned around and walked back to his truck to go home. He parked his truck, walked up to the front door, kicking the gutter as he passed it, and went to crawl into his bed – finally. Except now he couldn't because all he could think about was whether this was a habit. If she had been drinking habitually instead of doing as she was supposed to. Her whole situation swirled in his head as he drifted off to sleep and not have to worry about it anymore. He woke up the next morning and pushed the whole thing into the back of his head as he took a shower and headed to the firehouse.

"I called you last night," Parker said as he walked into the little kitchen where their shift was getting breakfast.

"It's fine, Park," Fitz told him, "I just dropped her off on Jake's doorstep. Then I went home and went to bed."

"I'm sorry I made you come out."

"You couldn't have known," Fitz said, taking a deep breath, "How was Annie this morning?"

Sarah might have been a complete bitch and half, but Annie was her baby sister. She was sweet – sometimes a little too 'into' parties – but sweet. She was a good person, and Fitz was kind of developing a theory that growing up with Sarah as an older sister had driven her to drink as much as she did.

"She was fine," Parker said, "I mean, she doesn't know. No one does yet…"

"Yeah," Fitz said, taking a deep breath, "I must've looked like a psycho, huh?"

"Not so bad," Parker smiled and Fitz chuckled, "Don't worry, Annie knows Sarah's not welcome anymore. It's just you don't usually come…"

"I know," Fitz said, "No one's fault."

"Hey, Grant, Smith," James called as he walked in, "The Cap wants to see you guys in his office."

The breakfast table erupted into a big chorus of 'oooohs', very similar to what would happen in an elementary school cafeteria. Fitz pushed out from the table, and brought his coffee with him as he and Parker headed back and through the hall to the Captain's office. Fitz clapped James on the shoulder as they passed and James smiled as he poured oatmeal into his bowl over by the stove.

"What's up, Cap?" Parker asked casually as they walked into his office.

"Sit down," He said, not as amused by Parker's antics as he usually was.

"What's going on?" Fitz asked more formally as they sat down in front of his desk.

"I have a special assignment for you two today," The Captain said, and Fitz winced.

"…No…"

"I looked into it, and you two have the best rescue record."

"Please, Cap," Fitz said, and the Captain took a deep breath.

"You two were also the two that were talking trash yesterday after a charity baseball game."

"They started it," Parker informed him, "We just shut them up and went home. You know how cops are."

"Nevertheless, you two've been assigned to take a truck to Warner Bros. Studios…"

"I don't want to babysit a movie set, Cap," Parker said exactly what Fitz was thinking.

"You're taking James with you," The Captain tried to sugar coat it, "You three are like the three amigos, right?"

"Yeah, why didn't you bring James last night?" Fitz asked, and Parker rolled his eyes.

"What set are we watching?"

"They're doing a controlled fire on the set of the new Olivia Pope movie," The Captain told them, "They requested a truck and three guys for the day just in case they need back up."

"Ok," Fitz said as he stood up, and offered his hand to help Parker up out of his seat.

"C'mon, James," Parker said as they walked back through the kitchen.

"Babysitting duty?" Nick asked, and the three of them nodded, "Have fun."

Fitz threw Parker the key to the truck, and he and James climbed into the back without a question. Their jackets in their laps because they would be spending most of the day standing next to the truck watching a stunt crew and a special effects crew deal with controlled flames. It was almost like it was a day off.

"At least Olivia's hot," Parker pointed out when they were about halfway there, "Think we'll actually get to see her?"

"Do we ever actually see anyone that's important at these things?" James asked, pushing his glasses up and Fitz nodded.

"No we'll see the stunt woman who looks like her though," Fitz said.

"Shame," Parker smiled as he looked over his shoulder at Fitz, "No better way to get back on the saddle."

"Olivia Pope?" James looked from Parker to Fitz.

"What you don't think he could swing it?"

"Well, other then her very high profile boyfriend, sure if he wanted to."

"No, thank you," Fitz said as they pulled onto the set's back gate, "I've had more than my fair share of high-maintenance bitchiness… right Parker?"

He didn't really blame Parker for Sarah's attendance last night – but he figured it would get his two best friends off of the subject of his love life.

"I told you I didn't know she was going to be there."

"Sarah?" James asked as they started to climbed out of the truck.

"She was drunk at the party last night," Fitz said, and James looked like a cartoon character that just saw a train coming.

"Pregnant Sarah?"

"Yeah." Fitz answered him as they pulled off the hose to have it ready – it was an outside set. They had constructed it in the back-lot parking lot.

"What did you do?"

"I took her home to Jake," Fitz said.

"He carried her out of the party kicking and screaming."

"You're a better man than me," James said, and Fitz shrugged as they saw a group of people heading towards them.

"Well, would you look at that," Parker commented as the three of them realized who was leading the pack.

A man in shorts in a t-shirt who they assumed was the director, and right next to him was Olivia Pope. Now while he had learned his lesson about women like her, he was still male. Her obvious beauty, small stature and amazing soft skin had him rendered almost speechless, along with Parker and James was just staring at her in awe.

"So this is the crack team they sent to make sure I don't go up in flames?" She asked, staring right at Fitz, "You don't exactly exude confidence."

"Well," Fitz said, wanting to recover his factories as quickly as possible – there was no way she was getting to him, that was just stupid, "We do have the best rescue record in the area, so I guess we're the best you're going to get."

"Ok then," She smiled slightly, and he sighed.

Shit.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hey guys! I'm so excited and thankful for the reviews so far. This one's going to be plenty fun, don't worry. I'm determined to keep it as bright/fun as possible (Which, for those of you who read a lot of mine, isn't promising much. But I'll try). Enjoy :)

Rescued

Chapter Two

Olivia woke up that morning sprawled out on her over stuffed and over fluffed king-sized canopy bed. Her boyfriend Johnny was on the other side, his hand places rather possessively across her hip. It was like he thought if he let go then she would get up in the middle of the night and run as far away as she could away from him. They had been together six whole months, and she was almost sure that she loved him. That was even incorporating the fact that sometimes he could be quite possibly the biggest douchebag on the planet. But she may love him despite that – the jury was still out – but if she did, wasn't that kind of what love was about?

The clock kept ticking and she knew that she had to get up pretty soon if she was going to get to the set on time. Her driver must have had the route to the studios memorized to the point of muscle memory on the gas petal. This was her third movie this year. It was almost as if her manager, Cyrus, and all her handlers were afraid that she was going to fade from popularity. But she had every intention of sticking around. There would be no shaving her head or deciding to pick up shop lifting as a hobby for her.

"Where are you going?" Johnny rolled over as she snuck out of bed.

"I have to get to the set," Olivia told him as she threw on her newest designer sweats.

She watched as Johnny scratched his skinny chest, she couldn't quite put her finger on what had attracted her to him. He was tall and lanky, and you could see the bones in his chest, but there was just something about him. A charm, and in that – he never really cared about impressing her, which was something she always felt like people were doing. Everyone was always bowing down to her, just about from the time she showed up in LA. Johnny was the first person to not give a shit about whether or not he was yelling at her. He wasn't afraid of her, like it seemed a lot of people that were surrounding her nowadays.

"Fuck Olivia," Johnny said, putting a pillow over his eyes so that the sun wouldn't get to them, "When are you going to be done with this fuckin' movie already? You're gone all the time."

"We just have a few more sequences," Olivia told him as she was tying her sneakers.

"I wish you wouldn't go out of the house like that, what if someone sees you?"

"No one's going to see me," She said as she made her way towards the bedroom door, "I'm going to get in the car in the garage, and then the first person I see when I get to the lot is costume and make up. It's fine. I'll be home about six, probably."

"Fine," Johnny said as he pulled his phone off the nightstand and started texting, "See ya later, babe."

"Try and have a good day?" She checked, and he nodded.

"I have to meet with Dennis about the movie we're going to start up after your big birthday blast," He was sitting up, leaning against a pillow propped on the headboard.

"…About my birthday."

"Relax babe, I've got everything handled," He said, as she shifted slightly, "It's gonna be something you'll never forget."

"I told you I don't want anything major."

"Olivia. It's your twenty-first birthday. We'll have a blow out here, and if you wanna do something quieter later, we'll do it then."

And when would they – together with both of their awful schedules – manage to find more than one night to celebrate her birthday?

"Fine," She agreed because it was easier.

Her driver and personal bodyguard was waiting for her down in the kitchen. He was sitting at the table finishing up a bowl of cereal. Huck was probably one of the few people in her life – other than Johnny – that she trusted. Probably the only person in the world that she trusted entirely at this point. She smiled as she waited for him to finish his breakfast, then walked with him out to the car in the garage. It was nice that Huck 'got' that she didn't really like a whole lot of conversation on the way to the set in the morning. However, he was up and ready to hear everything about her day on the way home, listening intently and discussing things that might have upset her. Or if she needed someone to mull things over with. In the morning though, it was a nice break before she knew that she was going to have to meet up with Cyrus.

"Good morning, Liv," Cyrus met her car as Huck pulled it into her space on the lot.

"Cy," She gave him a little smile as they walked across the lot together towards her hair and makeup trailer.

"Let's get it done in double-time girls," Cyrus said as he fixed his shirt collar in the mirror, "We've got to get her over to meet the crew in a couple of minutes."

He smoothed what was left of the hair on top of his head, as thin as it was.

"Who am I meeting?" Olivia asked as Cyrus picked up a comb and ran it across the front of his hair.

"God was being unnecessarily cruel making a gay man's hair thin," Cyrus pitied himself for a minute, then turned to her, "The firefighters, Liv. Remember you wanted to – "

"Meet them," She finished his sentence, giving a little nod as the girls swirling around her were finishing up their magic, "If they're here to make sure I stay safe, then of course I want to meet them before we start rolling."

"You don't have to do the scene," Cyrus said as her makeup artist handed him a wrinkle cream, and he rubbed it in on their way out of the trailer, "The stunt double can more than handle it."

"Cy, seriously?" Olivia said as they walked to meet up with the director, "If I let the stunt woman do this scene, how am I supposed to finish the scenes as Annie and still think of myself as her? It's such an important scene to her character."

"Right," Cyrus said as the director walked over.

Kirk, was his first name, and he had been insistant about everyone calling him that. He had surprised her, he was moving up the Hollywood Ladder almost as quickly as she had except had apparently not been quite so corrupted as most directors were. She kind of liked him, and had already had Cyrus make a note in her address book that Kirk would be able to get in touch with her no matter what with movie offers and things like that.

"Miss Pope," He smiled, that was another thing, he referred to everyone as Mr.,Mrs.,Miss,Ma'am, or Sir with the kind of manners that just didn't seem to be taught anymore.

"Good morning, Kirk," Olivia said to him with a little smile as they continues on together.

The four of them, Huck trailing behind them, made their way over to the outdoor set on foot. The house and sets that would be made to look on fire were already half furnished with charred furniture and half not. It was a flashback sequence where her character, Annie, remembered the night that he ex had dowsed their house in gasoline and lit a match. This was because they had been searching for him for years to lock him away. It's in the middle of the movie that she brushes shoulders with him under a new identity at a party. Except she can't even call the cops because there's an extra issue of her not being over him, it was a character flaw.

"Oh my," Cyrus said as they started walking up, and could see the guys coming off their truck.

"Tongue in your mouth, Cy," Olivia teased him as they started to get a little closer.

"That's enough out of both of you," Kirk said, "I am not getting the shit beat out of me by two very well-built firemen and their nerdy side-kick."

"I've seen better," Olivia scoffed.

"He's cure," Cyrus said and Olivia smirked.

"Nerdy is definitely your type," Olivia mused, "But I think he might be straight."

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Kirk asked as they walked up within shouting distance, then they were standing there.

Olivia was now face to face with even what she had to admit were probably the three best looking firefighters that she had ever seen. But then again, they spent all day carrying around heavy shit and hauling equipment. Of course they were going to be in good shape, she was much more concerned with how functional they were going to be in preventing her from being lit on fire. She guessed that that whole Coca-Cola incident hadn't completely ruined Michael Jackson's career, but it sure didn't help the whole healthy living thing. Then again, her parents had never been anything like his were when he was growing up.

"So this is the crack team they sent to make sure I don't go up in flames?" She asked, trying to sound at least a little light-hearted, letting her gaze fall onto the middle one – clearly the sexiest of the three, "You don't exactly exude confidence."

He seemed to take a little offense at her words and looked right into her eyes for a fleeting second, like he didn't even do it on purpose. It didn't matter though, because the damage was done as his cool blue eyes shot into hers and she felt something – warm. Even though everything about him was near in need of a Sahara dessert to melt the ice age that was his facial features.

"Well," Brooding and gorgeous replied without even blinking, "We do have the best rescue record in the area, so I guess we're the best you're going to get."

"Ok then," She smiled at him softly, and he took a step back, whether he was aware that he had or not.

"So, this is the only set that you're going to be pretending's on fire?" The slightly shorter and stockier asked.

"Yes," Kirk replied, taking a deep breath.

"Basically we just need you guys here for the permit," Cyrus explained, "I'm sorry, what're your names?"

"Lieutenant Fitzgerald Grant - Fitz," The stockier one gestured to the middle, starting up introductions, "He's in charge of our engine. That's Novak. James, I guess we usually call him. And I'm Parker – well, Cameron Parker, but everyone just calls me Parker. And we know who you are of course, Miss Pope. But…"

"Kirk, I'm the director."

"Cyrus Beene," Olivia ripped her eyes from the man in front of her to look over at Cyrus, watching James the whole time, "I'm her manager, handler, best friend."

"Who's he?" Fitz asked, nodding his head back towards Huck, making his hair flop a little bit in the breeze, and her stomach flipped over.

What the actual fuck? She shook her head and turned to Cyrus to give him the 'look' that instantaneously told him that she needed out of a situation, immediately. What was she even doing looking at this guy? He was probably some asshole that went home at the end of the day and ate sardines out of the can with crackers. Belching out after drinking a beer with a shot gun on his back porch. A life of protein shakes and millions of weights in the basement. Stupid, with no taste or class. SHe took a deep breath. Where was Johnny when she needed him? He would know exactly the right kind of thing to say to guys like this.

"That's Huck," Kirk filled in for him, "He's Miss Pope's Bodyguard."

"We're going to go get ready for the scene," Cyrus announced, hailing over a studio cart like he was calling for a cab in New York.

He was very clearly showing off, but she didn't really care either way. Whatever got her to the wardrobe trailer faster and with less difficulty. Huck hopped onto the back of the cart as one of the crew drove them away to get them to wardrobe. They left Kirk to go over the technical stuff with them, like where and what was supposed to be on fire, and what was not supposed to catch. Aka, when that stuff starts to catch, you know we're in trouble, and that's when we're going to need you guys.

"He's in the closet," Cyrus sounded heartbroken as he waited outside her changing stall.

"Seriously? How do you tell?"

"How do you know a guy thinks you're cute? The same way," Cyrus didn't wait for an answer, "I saw you eyeing up – what was his name, Fitz?"

"I was not," Olivia replied, and Cyrus raised a brow.

"Oh, there would have been a duel if he had seen how you were looking at Fitz," Cyrus replied as if she were being unnecessarily stupid about it, "I mean, Johnny's a hot head, but did you see those arms. He'd probably just pick him right off the ground like a little kid."

"Cy…"

"Well, it's not like it's anything to actually worry about," Cyrus said, "He didn't look like he could be any less interested in you if you were about a thousand years old."

Olivia thought that he was a little off there.

"Is there a way we can make it so we see them again?" Cyrus said, and Olivia shot him a look, "C'mon – when do I ever ask for anything?"

"A couple of months ago, when you asked me to do that favor for your cousin, or something? She wanted to be an extra in the last movie?"

"Liv, please," Cyrus said, and Olivia exhaled rather loudly, "Just give me a shot here. Invite them to your party next week."

"I'm not going to have three firemen at my party. For Christ's sakes, Cyrus."

"There's going to be a million people at your party. No one would even notice. They'll blend in."

"Quit badgering me, Cyrus. I'm starting to get upset."

Cyrus went silent effective immediately. She always felt bad going it, but it was the only way to get him to shut up. He was silent the whole rest of the time they were getting ready, or rather she was getting ready. She tried to start up conversation as they were leaving the trailer to head over to the set again, but it was futile. He barely responded when she mentioned something about their favorite club, and maybe stopping by it on the way home. She took a deep breath as he just kind of sulked beside her walking across the lot.

"Seriously, Cyrus?"

"What?" Cyrus looked like a dog that had been beaten and now was trying desperately to be on his best behavior.

"You're acting like I stepped on your puppy or something," She cracked a smile, trying to tease him out of this sulky non-Cyrus, "You're getting all bent out of shape over some random that you haven't even spoken more than six words to."

Cyrus gave her a 'fair enough' look, but she knew that that wasn't 'it'. She knew that she wasn't exactly always the best friend in the world to Cyrus. And, in actuality Cyrus even turned a blind eye to be as one sided as it was without complaining much. She took a deep breath. She owed Cyrus to throw him a bone now and again because – what the hell would she do without him? If he finally got fed up with her treating him like she did – mostly because it was what was expected from her, her entitlement as 'Olivia Pope'. And if she was going to deal with the bad parts, she might as well pick up on the perks too – like acting however the hell she wanted. Regardless, she would let Cyrus hear her inviting the firemen - what were their names? Peter? Or Nick? Or something…

"Miss Pope," Kirk greeted her with a smile that melted the ice that had been her and Cyrus' walk over, "Fitz, Parker, and James-" Oh, those were they're names. "-have just finished prepping the set and the surrounding area for the crew to start set up. I was just wondering – if you wouldn't mind – running through the scene a few times to make sure we have it down before we set the place on fire."

Eggshells. Everyone was on eggshells all the time. She wasn't _that_ bad. There was no way that she was that bad.

"Of course, Kirk," She gave him a little smile and he handed her a script, even though she had been off of it since before they even started filming.

She went through her scene without any major complications other than the on-looking three that were watching the stunt and special effects crew. Specifically, she could not for the life of her understand what was so interesting about the effects crew and whatever they were doing. She knew that was their job, and what they were supposed to be doing – but usually when outsiders showed up to help them with a scene, it wasn't that crew that they were more focused on. Most specifically in this case, a pair of icy blue eyes that seemed to be more entertained playing with fire than watching her. Then of course, she wasn't quite sure why that bothered her so much. Maybe it was because Cyrus was right. Fitz would have been more interested in an ant hill than her, if that had been his only option. Parker, sure – James, at least a little.

"And… Cut!" Kirk called as the flames were just starting to go in on her, and she had just said her last line for the scene.

Immediately, the crew shut off the gas that was keeping the flames up, and one of them escorted her out of 'danger'. How dangerous could controlled danger really be? Once she and everyone else was out, she watched as Fitz, and the other two turned the hose on from the truck and doused what was left of the fire with water from a truck that the producers had brought in of extra water. That way they weren't stealing water from the city or the actual emergency supply.

"I just wanted to come and thank you guys," Olivia said as she walked over to where they were packing up the truck, Cyrus right behind her, as per usual.

"Just doin' our job," Parker said, and James gave her a big smile, Fitz nodded slightly.

She couldn't help but notice as he ran his hand through his somewhat sweaty hair, getting it out of his face. Why did she want to watch that?

"So, I know this was probably the last thing you wanted to do today," She said, that was the attitude Fitz was giving off, "If you guys are off next Friday night, I'm having a party for my twenty-first. No presents needed. But I'm going to put you three on the guest-list."

"I don't know – " Fitz started, but Parker hit him over the head, James was looking at him like he was absolutely insane.

Maybe he wasn't. She sure as hell didn't want to be going either.

"We'll be there." Parker said.

"Good," She said, "I'll leave Cyrus to give you guys the details."

"Well, thanks," James smiled at Cyrus – it was a little bit different than the adoration she had been getting – maybe there was something there.


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Well, hello as long as I managed to write this (because I'm exhausted) I thought I'd put it up right away – then maybe go to bed. :) Enjoy.

Rescued

Chapter Three

Fitz took a deep breath as he rolled over, and desperately tried to make his phone stop buzzing. He couldn't shut it off, just in case someone needed him. Someone other than the person who had been calling him all night, someone like Parker, James, or anyone else. Instead, it was Sarah that had been calling him, almost like clockwork, at least three times between the hours of nine and twelve in the evening. He never picked up, but the problem was that since he 'missed' the calls, an alert went off every couple of minutes to tell him that he had missed a call. A setting that he didn't remember how to shut off, and genuinely didn't really want to fix. All he wanted fixed was to have Sarah not calling him, ever again. How was he supposed to heal and start over if his ex was still attached? How was he supposed to bring a new girl, a woman that he would care about into a situation where his pregnant and crazy ex was calling him all night, as soon as her new boyfriend fell asleep? How was he supposed to explain that? Didn't he have to finish getting rid of her before he could begin again? He had to let the nightmare finish before he could wake up and try again.

He had only half listened to one of her voicemails, which was a crying sobbing, apologetic mess, before he decided that he should never do that again. He just went through and deleted them, then decided that if Parker or James really needed him they had his work cell phone number, as did his mother, and anyone else that he would jump out of bed for in the middle of the night. With that happy little thought, he turned off his personal phone and tossed it carefully onto the ground beside his bed. Honestly, it crossed his mind that he should call Jake, wake him up, and tell him to do something about it – but that wasn't his place. It wasn't the deal, he and Jake weren't friends anymore.

"You look exhausted," Parker commented as he and Fitz took their jog the next morning.

"I didn't get a whole lot of sleep last night," Fitz said, it was their weekend off, he should be rested and fine now – but he guessed that wasn't going to happen.

"You should go home and take a nap before tonight then," Parker suggested, and Fitz gave him a curious look.

"Tonight?"

"The Olivia Pope party," Parker reminded him, "Seriously you're like the only guy I know who would forget that they were invited to her party."

He hadn't quite forgotten. Well, maybe he had. He had been trying to block the whole interaction from his mind.

"Right," Fitz yawned as they paused to wait to cross a street.

"James is psyched," Parker went on.

"How does Jess feel about you going?" Fitz asked, a last stitch effort to get out of going.

"She's fine. She pissed she can't go too. But she knows you and James are going too. I'll be more likely to get kicked out than get myself into trouble by her."

Fitz nodded lightly, because he knew wholeheartedly that it was true. So, maybe tonight would be fun after all. It would just be him and his two best friends dressing up like trained monkeys, and going to a party where they didn't know anyone and would never see anyone again anyway. He took a deep breath as the cars stopped for a red light, and he and Parker continued on in their run. He just had to hold onto that thought when he was getting ready for the party later. They finished off their run at the park, where they met with James and some of the other guys for a quick pick up game before they headed home for a while.

He looked up at the house that he had bought in preparation for a life. Because while an apartment still suited him fine, he had been making enough money to invest in a house. He hadn't quite bought it for Sarah, but it seemed to just happen. The only reason that he had been able to hold onto it and not lose his mind thinking about her was because she had never moved in, and honestly – he didn't really care that much. Maybe if they had ended under any other circumstances he would be a little more hung up, but he wasn't. He just wanted to move on with his life, not necessarily needing someone else. Just keep going.

"How are you not dressed yet?" James looked crestfallen as Fitz answered the door, a couple hours before the party.

"What're you doing here?"

"We're all going over together, right?"

"The party doesn't even start for an hour and a half," Fitz told him, "And the last thing we want to do is be the first ones there. Parker's getting here at nine, then we'll head over."

James looked instantaneously upset.

"I'll go shower now, but Parkerhad to takeJess out to dinner…"

The house was set so far back from the road it was ridiculous. It may have just been easier to assign Olivia Pope her own street off the main trek. Fitz swallowed as Parker seemed unphased, and James seemed to only get more intense as he was driving his Ferrari. Of course, James could afford a fancy car, because much like Parker he never had girlfriends. There were always girls around, he just seemed to prefer to keep thing casual. Never saw the same girl twice. But then again, James was only twenty, he was just a kid. Younger than his kid brother. Fitz himself hadn't admitted to actually being in a relationship with Sarah until she had made it pretty impossible for him to try to see anyone else.

That should have been his first clue.

But he had turned out liking being a boyfriend. That was, once the label had stopped making him cringe. He pushed his own failed relationship and all the flags he had She missed, and James' love-life out of his head as they were getting to the end of the driveway where a valet was waiting for them. The 'house' as the biggest one he had ever seen in real life. It was more of a compound than anything else they could have called it. He tried to exchange looks with Parker. A cynical 'can you believe this?'. But Parker wasn't paying attention, he was staring up at the house with his mouth agape.

"Holy shit."

"This place is huge," James added to Parkers less than eloquent statement.

"You know I heard Depp's going to be here? And…"

Fitz let their voices fade into the back of his brain as he took a deep breath. Luckily, by the time James was passing his keys off to the Valet to have him go park the car, they had both calmed down to a more subdued excitement. They walked into the house, and he realized as he fixed the tie on his suit, that Olivia might not even be there. Cyrus had told them that they were doing the party with a twenties theme, which just meant that they should wear suits, the nicest ones they could find. Well, not he was in a sea of black suits and fancy flapper-like dresses. He found that the wardrobe was the only thing that was twenties style – but that was fine by him. He wandered around a bit, keeping a vague eye on James and Parker before stepping outside by the pool, which was lit up all different colors. James and Parker both were way more 'into' this than he was. Maybe there was something wrong with him, then? Maybe he was broken or something.

James and Parker, once inside the party, wandered off – or maybe he just stopped walking with them? He wasn't really sure, but there was no way in the mess of people around him that he was going to find them without calling. as His phone was still off, and he was planning on keeping it that way for about as long as he could swing it. There was no reason that he had to be with them right in that moment anyway. So, he took one more look at the sea of people that filled the house and ducked out the back door and out to a pool/patio area. He had assumed that there was no humanly way that it could be as crowded out there as it had been inside. He had been right, but the multi-color lighted pool area was the farthest thing from deserted. But the slowly changing lights under the water caught his attention for a minute, mesmerizing him as he tried to relax a little bit.

However, when he looked up he realized that with the small population that was outside he had failed to realize that the guest of honor/host was among the people who had branched out for some fresh air. And, once again he was staring right at the most beautiful woman that he had ever seen in his life, whether on the screen or in real life. It wasn't like it was something that was unique to only him, half the men in America – probably the world – thought that when looking at Olivia Pope. He quickly glanced away and was going to head back into the house, but her group walked over and engulfed him instead.

"Fitz," Her manager, Cyrus, said his name like he had only just remembered it, "I'm glad you could make it. Did the others come along? Or did you come by yourself?"

"James and Parker are somewhere in the house," Fitz said casually, making a point of looking directly at Cyrus, "I just came out to get some air."

"Oh, good," Cyrus said.

"Having fun?" Another guy who was standing right next to Olivia asked.

"Ah, yeah," Fitz figured it was rude not to say so.

"I guess thanks are in order," The guy continued before introducing himself, "Johnny, Olivia's boyfriend. Thanks for keeping her safe on set for me."

"Oh, yeah – not a problem," Fitz said as he was suddenly flanked by James and Parker – he wouldn't have to find them anyway.

"There you are," Parker said, clapping him on the shoulder, "We lost him earlier. He's been a bit mopey lately."

"I didn't notice," Olivia commented, and James smiled.

"Well, it's been a long while," He tagged on.

He was going to correct them, tell them he was fine, but thought better of it. He thought he might sound like a pouting child yelling at his parents in a fit, so he figured it was better to just let them say whatever they wanted. It wasn't like it was going to matter, it wasn't like he was ever going to see any of these people again. He stood there, mostly staring at the ground or rotating through everyone's face but Olivia's to make himself seem less awkward as the rest of the conversation went on. He couldn't be sure what they were talking about, but he assumed that they were discussing the movie, or some other thing that Olivia had coming up. He took a deep breath and looked over to James, like he was asking for an 'out'. But he only found himself being ushered back inside with the rest of the group.

Fitz wandered his way through the rest of the party, knowing that James and Parker were not going to leave until the party was good and dead. He grabbed a couple of the glasses of wine that were going around, and trying not to let on all of the things that he would do to get a beer. He actually really liked wine, weird for a guy like him he knew, but it wasn't generally what he chose to relax with. Either way though, he managed to slip into the back of the party, until he was starting to feel a little buzz, and he stopped picking up spare glasses of wine. However, before long, he was scouring the place for a bathroom.

Eventually, he found a staircase and assumed that it might be easier to find one without about three hundred people around him. When he reached the top of the stairs and walked out onto the landing, he thought that maybe his assumption was wrong. The whole hallway was lined with identical white doors, and he sort of hung his head as he started peaking into each of the rooms. Most were guest rooms that didn't even look like they had been used – ever. Some were filled with things that weren't necessary – extra living rooms, one extra kitchen. He was about to give up and go ask a butler or something when he figured he would just check the rest of the hallway.

He popped into one room, and his stomach turned over right in his gut. He was out of the room and the door was snapped shut before he had even fully processed what he had seen until after he was staring at the door frame. Was that - ? No. It couldn't be – who would be so stupid as to… but it was. The couple that he had just walked in on, naked under the sheets, who had probably not even realized he had walked into the doorway. The guy was Johnny. The guy who had introduced himself as Olivia Pope's boyfriend just a couple hours earlier was in bed with someone that was definitely not Olivia Pope.

Moron. What kind of Idiot?

He realized that any sort of buzz that he had had was completely out the window. Also, that this party was about to get even duller than he already thought it was. Turning to go, he saw her walking up. He took a deep breath, and tried desperately to mask over the panic that was going through his head. He had had enough of drama. He did not need to deal with this too.

"What're you doing up here?"

"I was just – ah – looking for a bathroom," He said, and she nodded.

"There's none that connect right to the hall," She told him with a little smile, "They're all off of the guest rooms and the main room. C'mon. I just have to grab something out of my room anyway…"

"Ah, you don't want to go in there," Fitz, in his still slightly cloudy state, tried to delay her, "I think someone snuck up here and got sick or something – "

He apparently had not blocked the door quite as well as he had thought. Her tiny, beautiful, little, delicious smelling frame slipped right by him and got through the door – where all that happened next was a scream. He wasn't sure if it was more shock or anger as he clapped a hand over his ear. She hadn't gotten very far into the room, and therefore had screamed just about right into his ear canal. He stepped out of the room and just stood there, a little shell shocked.

"What the Fuck." Olivia had gone from screaming to a very scary, low voice, "Get out of my house. Now."

"Olivia – " Johnny tried to speak up.

"Both of you." Olivia said through teeth, "NOW."

The girl was trying to get dressed under the covers, and Fitz realized that he should leave. He should just go downstairs and rejoin the party like nothing had happened. He looked over at Olivia, and instantly knew that that was a bad idea. If he left this whole situation might just become a whole lot messier than it would be if he stayed. This way there was at least a witness, or someone to hold Olivia back if things got too far out of control. His heart ached for her, so he stayed.

"Annie. What the hell are you doing?" Olivia asked, "I said out."

"I'm just grabbing – "

"No, you're not," Olivia said so scarily that 'Annie' just wrapped herself up in a sheet and came out into the hall.

Fitz looked towards the ceiling as Johnny came out in his boxers, and the two of them went right down the stairs that Olivia had just come up. There was silence for what felt like full minutes where Olivia just look a look around at her room, turned around and stormed off. He took a deep breath, knowing that he wasn't going to be able to walk away from this one without getting at least a little bit involved. He took a deep breath as he followed her downstairs, and through the party that seemed to be going on without her fine all on its own. He got outside, where everyone had abandoned for inside just in time to see her hurl/drop-kick both of her shoes into the pool.

He hung back.

"Stupid motherfuckin' no-name douchebag…."

She trailed off and Fitz didn't even try to listen in. He looked up at the house, then decided to shut all the doors, so that no one would have the bright idea to come outside. He had just finished mak'ing sure everything was shut when he turned around and realized that she had calmed down. Significantly. She was sitting on the edge of the pool, with her feet in the water. Her tears were audible and he took a deep breath as he sat down next to her, not quite putting his feet in.

"It's going to be fine," He told her, pushing her hair back on her shoulder - she fell back onto his shoulder, "Some guys are just – I'm sorry, there's really not a word for what that guy is."

"I can't believe Annie – "

She started crying harder, and he took a deep breath. He knew that she was just going to have to cry her way through it, but he didn't want her to have to. She seemed to think that crying was unacceptable, because she sniffled it up and looked at him.

"Thanks, you're…"

"Don't worry about it," Fitz told her, and she took a deep breath.

"I can't stay here."

"I can get you to a hotel, or a friend's…"

She just looked at him. She didn't want that, and he knew it.

"Ok," He sighed, he couldn't believe what he was about to offer her. He assumed that it was the same part of him that had driven Sarah home, "I know where you can lay low as long as you want. It's nothing special, but it has a spare room with a bed.

"Your place?"

"But James drove so…"

"I have a car."


	4. Chapter 4

A/n: Well, this only took me forever. Enjoy :)

Rescued

Chapter Four

There were quite a few things in Olivia's life that she would have gone back and changed had she known what was going to happen next. Her whole life was starting to feel like a whole bunch of 'could have, would have, should have' situations all strung together. Because, honestly, if she and known what her life would become once her parents had passed away, and she had been shipped off to live with her uncle (who she had since stopped speaking to) in LA, she would have put up more of a fight. She would have kicked, screamed, and thrown herself into the doorway. She would have run away, and lived in her friends' basements on a rotation until they stopped looking for her. But instead, as she always had – she did exactly what was expected of her. Even at the age of twelve when she first moved out to LA, she knew her role. Her whole life was knowing her role.

And it was no different as she stood in the doorway to her bedroom, watching Johnny – her boyfriend of two years – and her 'best friend' disappear down the stairs and out of sight. Both of them were only minimally clothed. Of course, she knew that the press was camped out down the street, but she didn't care. It was one of those moments where she didn't mind fulfilling her role. This time, the angry immediately ex-girlfriend who is kicking said ex-boyfriend and the slut she found him with out of the house. Whether there was a party going on or not. However, in that moment – she wasn't mad that Johnny had cheated. Well, not right then, she would be later. She wasn't even mad that there was a party going on, or that it was in her bedroom. Not right away.

She was angry that Fitz was there. And she wished that she hadn't bothered pealing her eyes away from him earlier. When he had walked out to the pool area, the moonlight and lights that they had strung up hitting his handsome face perfectly. The way that he had smiled when his friend had said something funny or what-have-you to him. He cleaned up well, was the point. And, as was much the pattern of her life, if she had known what she was about to walk in on – she would not have suppressed the thought in the back of her head that had been telling her to pull him into her bedroom, and never let him leave. However quiet that thought was in her slightly intoxicated brain. His hair, his smile, everything about him was just so –

Olivia could hear her feet hitting the steps, and the motion of her body hurdling down the stairs before she actually realized she was rushing down them. She went through the party, and it was always helpful that the party didn't seem to realize what was going on in its outskirts. Her feet were hitting the stones that went around the pool deck, and her heel broke off in the rocks. She could have screamed, but instead she ripped her shoe off throwing it out into the center of the pool. Then, hiked up her skirt a little bit before sitting down on the edge, her feet in the water, and she started to cry.

"Stupid motherfuckin' no-name douchebag," Olivia started to mumble – not sure whether she was speaking of Johnny or her uncle.

"It's going to be fine," She whipped her head a little realizing that Fitz had followed her down, and was now sitting next to her, "Some guys are just – I'm sorry, there's really not a word for what that guy is."

"I can't believe Annie – "

She started crying harder, and he took a deep breath. Olivia could see through her tears enough to know that she was scaring him. She could see the look on his face, and she knew that he was probably doing his own 'should have'. He was thinking that he should have stayed upstairs, or left the party once it was clear it was no longer going to be a 'happy birthday' for her. Not that that was the reason he had come. From what she read of the situation, he had been dragged along with his friends. He hadn't even wanted to be there in the first place. He certainly didn't want to be there now. He was clearly too sweet for his own good.

"Thanks, you're…" She tried to get him out of it.

"Don't worry about it."

"I can't stay here."

"I can get you to a hotel, or a friend's…"

She just looked at him for a second, a crueler part of her that she would usually suffocate, suppress and destroy coming up. She didn't want to stay at a friend's, because while anyone she asked at the party inside would host her – it wasn't because they were a friend. She couldn't reasonably say that she had had a true friend since she had arrived in LA. She took a deep breath, knowing that Fitz wanted to pass her off as soon as he possibly could – but somehow w feeling like she would be punishing him for his kindness if she pushed him to help her any further. But at the same time, she wasn't saying anything either. Pushing him by omission. Fitz wasn't just going to leave her there – he was much too nice of a guy for that.

"Ok," He sighed, "I know where you can lay low as long as you want. It's nothing special, but it has a spare room with a bed.

"Your place?"

"But James drove so…"

"I have a car," She was so surprised by his offer that she went to get up – like maybe he would change his mind if she sat there any longer.

"Keys?" He asked as she led him back inside, to the kitchen where everyone but the serving staff was avoiding as if it were a dirty, taboo place.

"Right here," She took them off the hook and handed them to him, "Unless you want me to drive."

"No, it's – I'm used to driving a truck," He said, looking at the little Mini-Cooper symbol on the keychain, "I'll be fine."

"Let me just go pack a bag," She said, and he nodded as he spun the keys on his finger, "I'll just run in and tell James I'm leaving so he's not looking for me later."

Fitz walked out of the kitchen, and Olivia took a deep breath. If she just didn't think about it, walking up into her room wouldn't be a problem. She would just go right up the staircase, and pack a bag. More than enough clothes for the night that she was planning on spending at Fitz's, and her toothbrush, her makeup, and stuff to do her hair. No big deal. But as she walked into her room, she felt cold. Like it was some hotel room she was just going into to make sure she had packed everything up before heading to the next one. There was no comfort there, it was like she was shell-shocked. The ringing of ears that happened after a bomb went off, or the way you felt right when you got off a plane and were walking through the airport. She wondered vaguely how many people Johnny had brought up to 'their room'. How many times it had been Annie in her bed instead of her.

"Ready?" Fitz met her out by the garage, the keys to her little cooper still in his hand.

"Yeah," She said, throwing her bag into the backseat, and walking around to sit in the passenger side, "Thanks."

"It's not a problem," He said, even though she was ninety-eight percent sure he was lying through his teeth just to be nice.

The ride was quiet, and she was certainly pleasantly surprised, and puzzled when he turned down a little culdesaq of a neighborhood. The houses were all well-lit, and the yards were all kept about as neat as in her own street. However, she got the hint that he and his neighbors worked on their lawns themselves. The puzzle came when he pulled into possibly the largest house on the street, at the end, and pulled her car right into the driveway without her having to tell him to do so. His own truck was out in the driveway, she could see him driving it exceptionally easy.

"I'll give you a quick tour," He said as she went to pull her bag out of the back, but he already had it over his shoulder.

"Is there anyone else here?" She asked him, and he shook his head.

"Nope," He gave a little half, very crooked smile, "You'll see when you get inside, it's just me."

What the hell kind of bachelor had a family sized house? In a nice part of town? At his age? What was he, twenty-two, twenty-four at the most?

"You have a whole house to yourself?" She asked, and he nodded.

That was, decided by him, as far into that conversation as they were going to go. He opened the door from the garage to the house, and brought her into the house. He gave her a quick tour of the house, where the kitchen and living room were. Up the stairs, and where the bathroom up there was – and over to the guest room. He pointed to a door at the end of the hall, and said that it was his room, if she needed anything.

When Olivia woke up the next morning in a foreign, yet somehow oddly comforting, room it took her a minute to remember where she was. Because, before her sleepy and slightly hung-over brain could process enough to tell her where she was, it first had to go through all that had happened the night before. And suddenly it was all rushing back to her. Drinking with some of her friends, Fitz standing as if a handsome stranger by the pool, Johnny getting pissed off thinking that she was watching Fitz a little too closely. Then she went to get a sweater from her room - and Fitz was there, looking for a toilet. Then there was Johnny and Annie in bed together, her bed. Then Fitz had offered to let her lay low, she had nearly asked him if she could stay with him. Then they left, he had given her a tour of what she needed to know before setting her up in the guest room and going to bed.

So that's where she was, a hand on her head because it felt like someone had smashed her over the head with a sledgehammer as she walked through the house. Olivia sat up in bed, swinging her legs around, and touched her toes to the floor. The room should have been spinning around her, and she should have been seriously regretting something that she had said the night before. She was supposed to be sick, not just have a slight headache. And Johnny was supposed to be at her beck and call – trying to help her get over it. She wasn't an idiot, she knew that he would be more than a little unhelpful with her hangover, but this was the last thing that she had been expecting. Who the hell was going to run around cheating on her? What the fuck kind of point had he been trying to prove? What was the point? And with Annie? That nasty little bitch that jumped from man to man more often than Olivia even tried to understand.

She reached the living room and flipped on the TV– knowing that her party would be at least a slight topic of discussion. She sighed as she sat down on Fitz's couch, and flipped through the channels looking for –

_Shit_. She stopped flipping on E! and her jaw dropped. She was watching what seemed like a half-naked Johnny pulling his car out of the gates at the end of her driveway. Annie was in the car next to her, and was shouting a mixture of profanities in what seemed to be a rant about – her. She watched for a little bit longer as it switched back to the anchor, who was saying that there had been no comments from 'Olivia Pope's Camp'. She was about to pull out her phone when the remote dropped back next to her and the TV was shut off.

"Where did you go?" She looked over just in time to see him setting what looked like breakfast down on the coffee table.

"Morning run," He shrugged, "Figured I'd grab you breakfast, and I saw that – so I figured I should get back."

He was sweaty, his hair extra curly – and wet. It was hot outside, and based on the little sweat stain near his neckline, it was possibly even hotter than it had been the rest of the week. He had those baggy basketball shorts on, and a pair of sneakers that looked like he had run them right off against the pavement. They were just about falling off his feet – and clearly from the way he dressed and the way that he lived, he could more than afford a new pair. So why was he still wearing them? She looked back up at him, and took a breath. He looked like a ragamuffin. So why, then, did he look so damn appealing?

"Everyone's seen it by now," She said, and he nodded, "It was at the coffee shop?"

"Yeah," Fitz said, and she suddenly got the feeling he wished he hadn't said anything, "I'll drive you home whenever you want. I have the week off, so it doesn't really matter."

There seemed to be something behind that, but she decided not to push it. He turned and started to walk away. There was something weird about him, sad – or something. If anyone had the right to be upset and sad it was her. She took a deep breath as she looked back at the TV. It was just a blank screen, and she froze.

"Fuck."

"What?" Fitz asked, stopping and turning around.

"Nothing, I just didn't tell Huck where I was going," Olivia replied, "He worries, is all. Dammit I wish I could just disappear for a while, you know? I don't want the damn –"

She was cut off as his phone went off, and he pulled it right out of his shorts pocket. Olivia was so surprised at how quickly he reacted, that it took her a minute to realize that he had already left the room. She set her phone down on the coffee table, and went to try and figure out where he went. She walked into the kitchen and realized that he had stepped out onto the back porch. She froze for a second, leaning against the counter in the kitchen as she watched him. He was smiling, and listening to whoever was talking on the other line like it was his soul purpose in life. At the end of the conversation, He nodded with a smile.

Oh god, that smile. She remembered it from the night before. When he had been standing around the pool and flashed it. Between the tux and the smile, she had had to peal her eyes away from him and remind herself that she was with Johnny. If she had known how that night was going to end, then she might have not bothered. But she still had a good enough mental picture of it as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and came back into the house.

"I have to run an errand," He told her, "In a couple of minutes. I'm going to catch a shower and go out."

"Where are you going?" She asked curiously, because she thought it might sound better than asking who was on the phone.

"Don't worry, I'll be back in a couple hours," He said, taking a deep breath, "You can stay as long as you like. You kind of look like you could use a break. The guest room's empty anyway."

She didn't even really have time to say anything, and he was out of the room again. She walked back out to the living room, and picked up her phone. Her intention was to catch Fitz on his way out the door, but as she sat down on the couch. Her mind started racing again. She had things to do, and people to see – but she couldn't find the energy to do anything about it. She needed a break, Fitz was right. All she wanted to do was go to bed, and sleep for as long as her body would let her do it. She picked up her phone to carry it back upstairs with her, and she looked down at it.

She should call Huck. He was going to flip a shit if she didn't let him know where she was. He knew her better than anyone, and was possibly the only person in her circle that loved her, too. Especially given the recent events with Johnny. She heard the door shut downstairs, and realized she had missed Fitz – but couldn't really bring herself to care all that much. Instead of running to try and catch him, she walked into the guest room, and dialed Huck.

"Olivia," He answered, clearly relieved.

"Huck," She smiled, "Are you alone?"

"Yes," He replied, "Where are you? I'll come and get you. Who'd you leave the party with last night? Why didn't you tell me where you were…"

"A lot went down last night," She told him, taking a deep breath, "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. That was rude. I'm ok. I'm with Fitz."

"The firefighter?" He checked, and Olivia took a deep breath.

"Yeah," Olivia said, scratching her forehead lightly, "I'm ok. I just kind of need to chill for a while. I'll let you know when I'm ready to come back. Just let Cy know I'm ok, alright?"

"I don't like this," Huck said somewhat disappointedly.

"Just pass the message on to Cy, ok?"

All she wanted to do was sleep. She hung up.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: My apologies, my lovelies. Enjoy the chapter, hopefully my block will be gone for good now, because I get suffocated way too easily. It's a little rocky, probably not up to my usual caliber, but bare with me. And just enjoy it :)

Rescued

Chapter Five

Fitz still wasn't entirely sure what he had been thinking when he offered it up that Olivia Pope could stay with him. How long? Had he even put a limit on it? What the hell was he thinking? Inviting a pop star? An actress? Whatever it was that she was doing this week - to stay in his house with him? It didn't matter how sad, and upset, and pathetic she looked to him when he had gotten home. When she was standing there in his living room in a pair of sweats and a t-shirt he had let her steal for the night watching her own personal nightmare on TV as if it were a highlight reel from the game the night before. It was cruel – inhumane to see something like that, and her just standing there trying to figure out her next move. He never understood how celebrities could snap, and lose touch with what was going on – but in that moment he immediately understood. They were simply ascribing to what was expected of them, which seemed to gobble up the younger ones, chew 'em up, and spit 'em right back out onto the pavement.

Maybe it would be good for her to get away from it all. That was what he had been thinking. Well, and the little added fact that he was in fact male, and probably the most beautiful woman in the world was standing, upset and near to tears, in his living room in his clothing. He had had to do something, right? Help her out? Most likely she wouldn't want to stay with him anyway, right? She might stay another night, but then she'd want caviar and the comfort of her own bed, right? Maybe that was the wrong thing that she might be aching for, maybe it would be her shoe collection or something. Sarah had never been able to go anywhere without at least six pairs.

"Fucking-A," Fitz grumbled as he was walking from his truck back towards the house, and Sarah's name popped up on his phone screen.

He nearly broke the touch screen, and threw it back into his pocket. He had too much to fuck around with as it was, and as much as he wanted to help – he couldn't take care of Olivia. She had to go, and she had to go soon. It was the reason he hadn't moved on, there was no moving on while Sarah was still trying to cling to him like a leach. Not that that was particularly fair, but how could he knowingly drag someone else into his life? Olivia, he couldn't take care of her, and Sarah, and James, and Parker, be a fireman, and live a halfway normal life. It just wasn't within his own human capabilities.

The door to the house swung open for him just as easy as it usually did – except something was wrong. He didn't really have a clear picture of what he thought he would be coming home to. Olivia curled up on the couch eating popcorn – which was the closest thing he had to crap food in the house – under a blanket watching lifetime? It certainly didn't seem out of the realm of the possibility to him, but somehow as he walked into the house, and his heart sank. He dropped his keys to the floor, and ran into the living room, and kitchen.

When he didn't find her in either room he ran upstairs, and didn't have to look far. She hadn't changed, even though she had packed enough for a month, as far as he was concerned. Olivia was without any doubt in his head the heap of clothes and messy hair that was on his bathroom floor. Her body convulsing, curled around the porcelain of the toilet. He could hear vomit hitting the water, and reacted. There wasn't even a moment where he hesitated as he pushed himself into the room and pulled her hair back.

Fitz knelt down behind her and pulled her into his arms, pulling her hair back and holding it in a ponytail. Holding it back for her as she continued to empty the contents of her stomach into his toilet. He ran his hand over the top of her head trying to calm her down, not sure if she was hung over or had upset herself enough to make her sick. Either way, as she paused for a moment, he reached over and flushed the toilet, and the somewhat unreal amount that was in it.

"Ok," He whispered in her ear as he held her back so it could finish, "Shhhh, calm down. It's all going to be ok, alright?"

Her body shuttered as he ran his hand across her shoulders. She seemed to be done, so he very carefully leaned her up against the back cabinets by the sink so that he could stand up. Going to grab a cloth to wet and give to her, he realized that there were none in the room. He ran into the hallway and grabbed one from the closet. And once he had put cold water on it, wrung it out, and handed it to her, he went down and poured some Gatorade into a water bottle for her. No one could yak up that much crap and still be properly hydrated, and the last thing he needed was a passed out woman who's very nearly been reported missing in his bathroom.

When he got back upstairs, he saw she had moved. She had laid herself on the floor, her face unapologetically against the tile.

"Ok," He said, getting back down on the floor with her, and helping her sit back up, "Drink this, it'll help."

She mumbled something that was probably some sort of thank you, or apology as she held her head up, and he forced the Gatorade into her hand. He was surprised to see that like the toilet, she kind of curled herself around the sports bottle, like it took all of her to hold onto it. He was watching her a tad too intently, he knew that – but he wanted to make sure she got something back in her.

"Thank you," She cleared her throat once she had taken a few sips.

"You should drink more," He said, and she nodded.

"I know."

"So, what was that all about?" He asked casually, or as casually as he could try and make it sound.

"I just – " She took a deep breath.

She was broken. She needed him. She needed someone, at least. And not Huck, who was like a spoiling nanny who followed her around like a puppy. Not Cyrus, that sleaze of a manager that only – from what he had seen – was worried about how much money she could make him with her perfect skin, and her deep brown eyes.

He blinked.

"Do people know where you are?"

She nodded.

"I called Huck," She said, taking a deep breath, "He's going to tell Cyrus that I'm safe. That I'm staying with you. I told him that I wasn't ready to come back, so I'm going to lay low."

"Good," Fitz said, nodding, "Drink more of that – you'll feel better."

"Thanks," She said again, taking a much bigger gulp – which let him relax a bit.

"No problem," He said, "You didn't get it anywhere else, right?"

"No," She replied, taking a deep breath.

"Alright," He said, taking the towel from in front of her as he stood up, "Why don't you go and get some rest, and I'll make lunch. Something easy on your stomach."

"Ok," She mumbled lightly, and he nodded as he got up.

There was only so much in his fridge, living alone, that would make enough to feed both of them. Luckily, he was stocked up, and hoped that she wouldn't be too snobbish for grilled cheese and tomato soup. There really was nothing better than it when you weren't feeling good – and he could do with a little bit of comfort food, too. The soup would take the longest, so he threw a couple cans in the pot, and set it on to heat up while he went back up to check on her. He wouldn't go into her room, just walk by and make sure she made it into bed. However, when he got to the top of the stairs again, it was clear that she hadn't even attempted to get up. She had simply laid back down on the tile, like her body simply weighed too much for her to operate.

He couldn't leave her there.

"Olivia?" He asked quietly as he stooped down, "Can I help you to your room?"

And off the floor? There was no way he was letting her stay there – it was worse than letting her face fall into the toilet water.

She mumbled something that sounded like a 'yes' and he didn't bother for clarification. Fitz wiped a hand across his forehead, and very gingerly picked her up off the tile. He wasn't sure exactly how volatile her stomach was, but there was also the fact that he couldn't imagine there was much left in there. He angled her so that her head fell onto his chest to keep her balanced as he carried her down the hall and put her on the bed. He set her Gatorade on the nightstand, and then walked back down to an already over steaming pot of soup.

He turned it down, and started flipping grilled cheeses while he tried not to think too hard about what was actually happening. Fitz couldn't be sure whether this was normal, and then remembered that the night Sarah left him for Jake he had put three holes in the wall by the door frame. Then, later that night he had drunken himself sick while he puddied them up and painted over it so that it looked like nothing had happened. That was when he had been planning on selling the house, things changed. People grieved for relationships in different ways. He couldn't imagine the kind of embarrassment and extra pain that would have been involved if Sarah sleeping around with Jake had been as highly publicized as this was going to be.

"Olivia?" He said quietly a few minutes later, poking his head into her room with a tray of sandwiches and soup, "I know you're probably not hungry – but you should eat something."

Olivia's breathing changed slightly as he set the tray down, but she didn't actually respond. He pulled over a chair from the corner, and her eyes stayed on the doorway. She had been staring off that way since he had dropped her off in the room at least ten minutes before hand. He wasn't even sure if she had blinked.

"Grilled Cheese," He told her, trying to get her attention, "When's the last time you had one of these?"

He bit into his, and she looked over at him, apparently returning to planet Earth. She seemed to only just register that he had walked in, and she sat up, leaning against the headboard, piling the blankets in her lap.

"Hi," She said lightly.

Her voice cracked as she said it, and he realized something. She wasn't some crazy diva, obsessive, actress. She was a person. She was a talented person, who had apparently been valued on that since she was sixteen. Fourteen? Maybe younger, he wasn't up on his pop culture, but since she was a little kid. But she was just a person, and one who had been trained to value herself on public opinion. She was in so far deep that it just didn't compute to her. He took a deep breath.

"Hi," He swallowed, feeling tears stinging the back of his eyes – but he kept them back with a blink and a smile, "I brought you up some lunch. Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup?"

"That sounds – absolutely perfect," She was trying to sound upbeat, but she still sounded like a zombie.

"It's right on the table," He told her, and she reached for one.

There was a little bit of a break as they munched.

"Your phone's ringing," She said after a little while.

"It rings so often now I barely hear it," Fitz gave her a little smile as he took it out of his pocket, and silenced it once again, "It'll stop soon."

"You're popular."

"Not as popular as you," He slipped casually as he handed her the Gatorade, and a bowl of soup.

"You don't have to baby me, I'm ok," She said, her lip stiffening, "I appreciate the place to lay low."

"That's fine," Fitz said, stretching as he popped the last of his sandwich into his mouth and standing up, "You just scared me a little bit there for a minute. I'll be downstairs if you need me."

"You're a good guy," Olivia commented, and Fitz swallowed as he headed out of the room to leave her alone.

He had hardly hit the hallway when his phone started ringing again, and he looked down at the screen this time.

'Parker'

"Hey."

"You sound like shit. What's going on?" Parker's happy-go-lucky voice filled his ear.

"My buddy bailed on me for our run this morning," Fitz replied as he shuffled on down the stairs.

"You just hung up on me, so we'll call it even."

"I did? Shit. Sorry."

"Did you even look?" He asked as Fitz walked out onto his back porch – he needed fresh air.

"Sarah's been calling again."

"Dude," Parker sounded almost upset about it, "You need to lose her. It's sick, you letting her just walk all over you like this."

"I'm not letting her walk all over me. She's gone, not a part of my life," Fitz said, "Ask if I've picked up."

"Then why did you leave so fucking early last night?"

"I had something come up. Unrelated."

"I don't care," Parker replied, "She needs to stop. It's not fair. She's the one that screwed you over, she doesn't get to make you feel bad, or responsible because she screwed your friend."

"I wouldn't call Jake and me friends," Fitz replied, and Parker scoffed.

"Well, not now," Parker replied, "I'm going to talk to Jake."

"Why? What's that going to do?"

"Anyway, the reason I was calling was because we're all planning on meeting up at Mickey's tonight," He said, "Me, James, Jess – James wants you to come. He's bringing someone he met last night. Girl he was chatting with the whole night."

"Tell him I'm sorry, I can't," Fitz said, looking back up at the house, at Olivia's window, "I'm busy tonight."

"Of course," Parker replied, sounding severely disappointed, "It's not healthy you know, locking yourself up for the week."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"Really? Because I can tell you exactly why Sarah's been calling you nonstop," Parker said, "I'm your best friend, I know what last night was supposed to be."

"Par-"

"No. A nice, traditional, quiet wedding, right? Last night. Before you realized she had been fucking Jake's brains out for months."

"I'm hanging up now," Fitz said, and Parker sighed.

"You should come."

"You're just going to have to trust me on this one, Park."

The line went dead, and Fitz shook his head. He spent the rest of the day on the back porch, leaving the house to Olivia and whatever she wanted. He popped open his book, and read by sunlight until it was too far down in the sky for him to see anything. He hadn't even realized that so much time had passed, and he went in to check in on Olivia again. He knew by experience that she needed the space to scream, or cry, or do whatever she wanted. And if it was him another time around, with a stranger lurking nearby it wouldn't be ok for anyone. It was a situation that needed to be handled delicately.

"Hello?" Fitz knocked lightly on the door as he walked in.

"I found it on the shelf – I hope you don't mind," Olivia said quickly, as if he had accused her of something.

It took a second for him to realize what she was referring to, but then he saw the book in her hands.

"Help yourself to whatever," He said, scratching the back of his head, "I don't know about you, but I've gotta get out of here for a while. You wanna come along? I was going to head to the beach. It's after dark, so there might be one or two people there, but no one who'll recognize you in the dark."

"The beach?"

"Yeah, usually after a long day I go for a walk," He said, "Usually it's downtown – but you can't exactly walk right down Hollywood Boulevard, can you?"

"Yeah," Olivia said, taking a deep breath, "That would be bad."

"Right," He said, getting up, and heading for the door – pausing in the doorway, "We'll make it easy. I'm going downstairs, and I'll probably leave in exactly thirty minutes. If you don't wanna come, you don't have to."

He collapsed onto the couch with his hand over his face. What the hell was he doing? A walk on the beach? What was she going to think? He didn't want her. He didn't want her. It was a bad idea, they were both hurt, in no shape for anything relationship-wise. There was just this thing that happened to him when he was trying to talk to her. His brain got fuzzy, and everything started to morph together until he wasn't even sure of what he had said until he was walking away. What the hell?

His phone rang.

"Stop," He picked it up this time, "Sarah. You can't keep doing this. Stop."

"I miss you."

"Yeah, well you probably should have thought about that before you fucked him, right?" He couldn't stop himself, he had stayed quiet for too long, "I'm sorry. I'm just done, Sarah. You can't keep calling me."

He hung up before letting her get another word in, then put his phone on silent. Leaning back, and staring up at the ceiling for a while, he just let his brain spin for a minute. That was until he heard footsteps coming down the stairs, and he looked up to see a slightly more manicured Olivia coming down the stairs. She had thrown her hair back, and up. She was wearing jeans and a t-shirt, not exactly what she usually wore on the covers of magazines – but somehow it only made her more beautiful.

"I could use some air," She said lightly, and he gave her a little smile.

"Great," He said, "Let me just get my keys."


	6. Chapter 6

Rescued

Chapter Six

Walking down a beach in the dark had been a strange sensation for Olivia. It was like a breath of freedom, not only could she not remember the last time she had been to a beach, but going at night and not worrying about having someone recognize her of take a picture. There was something so easy about walking down the shoreline, seeing a couple of group around fires - not caring who else was around as they laughed and shrieked and strummed their guitars. Then again, there was just something easy about the man who was walking next to her, as casual, and quiet as he was. Fitz was just trotting along next to her, not looking over even - eyes full ahead. A branch he had picked up when they got there was dragging along the top layer of the sand as he walked.

"Better than sitting in bed?" He had finally broken the silence as they were walking back to the car.

"Yes," She replied, climbing back up into the passenger seat in his truck.

He had changed quite a bit in the course of the day. He had gone from surly and what seemed to be coldness to something a little more warm. It wasn't that he'd really changed his behavior that much - maybe seeing her on the bathroom floor earlier had changed his opinion of her. He was less indifferent to her being around. When he had offered that she could stay that morning he had said it almost as if it were out of pity. That he could deal with having we there if she needed a place to crash, but now it almost felt like he wanted her there. Like he specifically wanted her there, too. Almost.

Maybe that was just the way guys were. She hadn't dealt with or been around a real guy since she got to LA. She had been surrounded by diva actors and self important musicians, with not a normal guy in sight. Well, they were there, but behind fences and walls of bars and movie theaters. Like dangerous zoo animals she had been warned to not make eye contact with or engage.

Now she was sitting on the back porch, her knees to her chest trying to watch the sun come up. It was comfortable to her, out there. She used to do it all the time when she was home, curled up on a lawn chair in the back waiting for the sun. Her mom would make her tea, and they would sit out there while her dad got ready for work. That way he could say goodbye to both his girls at the same time. It was almost funny to her that she had been in LA almost the same amount of time that she had been home. And yet LA still wasn't any sort of home to her. She hadn't been to the beach in so long because she hated the beach, but because she was working. She was always working. It was like the whole time she had been there had been one long, super extended business trip.

"You're up early."

Fitz voice took her by surprise, and she jumped a little bit as he finished walking around the porch and started up the stairs. He had somewhat perfectly fitting black basketball shorts and a ratty old station t-shirt on, which had a ring of sweat around the neck. His curls were a mess, and as he ran his hand across his forehead. He looked good. And in comparison to what she had seen the other night, him standing by her pool in an Armani Tux. She liked what she saw then, and she liked it now too.

"Where did you go?"

"It's supposed to be about a hundred and ten today," he informed her, "I wanted to get my run in before the sun was out."

"You run every morning?"

"Yep," He said as he curled up his headphones, and ripped his iPod band off his arm.

"Seriously?"

"Course."

"I usually just jump on the treadmill."

"That's no fun," Fitz replied, running his hand back through his hair, "No view. I just feel like a hamster on a wheel."

"Well, it's harder for me to get out and run," She replied, and he nodded.

"I imagine it would be."

"I made coffee," She said, raising her mug, "I hope you don't mind."

"Not as long as there's some left for me," He said, dipping his head a little.

"It's on the counter."

"Excellent," He breathed as he stretched down to touch his toes, "How do you feel about going for a drive today?"

"A drive?" She asked, and he nodded.

"Go up the coast a bit for the day."

"You know, for a guy I get the feeling doesn't get a lot of days off, you sure never want to be here," She said, and he gave her a small sort of smile, "Just an observation."

"I just don't like staring at the walls," He replied, "You in?"

"I'm in."

Within the hour they had both showered, dressed and ate a quick breakfast. Olivia was shocked at how quickly they had fallen into line with each other. They were quiet as they climbed into the car, and Olivia couldn't even think about a time that she had been so comfortable without something happening around her. The need to fill the silence, like the night before on the beach, wasn't there. It was a freeing feeling, something she had forgotten existed in the eight years since she had arrived.

* * *

She couldn't stop shaking, sitting in the back of a cab riding from LAX to wherever it was that she was going to be living next. While the courts figured out what to do with her, she had been staying with her Grandma in Miami for a while, staying close to her home, just down the street. But her grandmother was in no shape to take care of her for the long term. She had enough trouble trying to keep herself afloat, and on the wagon. Her twelve year old granddaughter was not a challenge that she was going to be able to keep up in the air for long. Or at least that's what the courts had decided. Which was when her father's brother, Michael's, name was tossed into the mix. It scared her. She had only met her uncle once or twice when she was much younger than she was now.

So, she was shaking. And looking at it as it was, she hadn't stopped shaking since she woke up one morning and her grandmother who had babysat her the night before while her parents went out was still sitting in the kitchen. Deep down she had known, when she saw her sitting there, that her parents were never coming back. They were always careful to be home exactly when they told her they would be. Her mother would never miss a sunrise, and her father would never miss work.

And now she was sitting in the back of a taxi going to live with her uncle that she barely remembered. For some reason she thought that he father hadn't gotten along with him, but it was the last stop. Her grandmother had talked to him, made sure that the courts knew that this was the last place that she was going to end up. Grandma seemed adamant about making sure that she was in a place that was going to take care of her, and she wasn't going to be shuffled around.

"Miss Pope?"

The longest car-ride of her life ended with the driver getting out and opening the back door for her to climb out. She had been too nervous to pay attention to where the car had been going, and had only been able to see trees and bushes when she had glanced out the windows. She had never been to California before, so it wasn't like she would know where she was anyway. However, when she got out of the car, and looked up at the house – castle, mansion, whatever it was – in front of her, she was too shocked to shake anymore. The house was like a whole village of houses all put together under one roof. A fountain was in the driveway, like she had seen in the old movies she watched with her dad.

"Welcome to Beverly Hills, Miss Pope," The driver said as he unpacked the trunk, setting her things into the driveway.

"Olivia?"

She looked up and saw that a woman had walked out of the house. She was tall, slender, blonde – exactly what she would think of when someone even said the word 'California'. Her hair was up in a bun, and she had a clipboard in her arms. But her face was kind, if not stressed and worried.

"Yeah?"

"Oh, thank God you're here," She said with a smile as she reached for some of Olivia's bags – and what was unmistakably a butler came out to bring her things inside, "C'mon, I'll show you your new bedroom. Your uncle wished he could be here to greet you, but he's in a meeting. You'll see him later, at dinner. Come on, sweetie."

Olivia followed her, without a word, into the house.

"I'm Carrie," She informed her, "Your uncle's assistant, and until we find someone to look after you on a more constant basis – if you need anything you can call me."

She handed Olivia a card as they paused at the bottom of the stairs.

"And this," Carrie pulled something out of her back pocket and gave it to her, "Is your new cell phone. Your grandmother mentioned that you didn't already have one. I already programed my number, your uncle's number, and your grandmother's number into it so you can call us if you need us. Though, you probably shouldn't call your uncle unless it's an emergency situation. Like after you call 911. At least during the work week. Your uncle is a busy man."

"Ok," Olivia nodded quietly as she was led up a spiral marble staircase to the second floor.

"Here we are, first door on the left when you come up the stairs," Carrie opened a bedroom door, "Easy enough to remember, right? Your bathroom's right next door."

"I get my own bathroom?"

"Wait until you see your room. I decorated it myself, with al ittle help from your friends back home."

Olivia walked in to an ocean mural on the wall, dolphins leaping from the water. Her bed was a canopy, something she had always wanted, the fabric white like white caps flowing off of the posts. The bed was a dark blue, and the carpet like sand.

"You like it?"

"I love it," Olivia smiled, and Carrie smiled too as the butler continued to bring her things in through the door.

"I'll leave you to unpack," She said, dismissing herself from the room, "Your uncle should be home in about a half an hour.

"Thanks," Olivia said, going directly to her suitcase.

She wasn't sure why, but she wanted to be all done moving in before Uncle Eli got home. It was almost like it was an instinct, telling her that it would best. As a result, she was done in fifteen minutes, minus placing some of her nicknacks. She spread the blanket her mother had made her the Christmas before last on the foot of her bed and sat down on it for a second. The room, that had seemed so great when she walked in now felt too big. The whole house felt too big. It was empty. The house she was coming from was probably a fourth of the size, but it was more comforting. It wasn't – cold.

Olivia had watched the clock as if it were some sort of bomb for another fifteen minutes before slipping off her bed and heading downstairs. She paused about halfway down the stairs when she heard the door open and a man arguing on the phone walking in. She couldn't quite catch what he was saying, but he sounded angry, and it made her go slower down the rest of the steps. She was trying to catch bits and pieces, but by the time she reached the foyer, he had hung up and was taking off his coat.

"Olivia," He spotted her the second she finished the steps, and gave her a big smile, "Come here, let me see you."

She took a timid step closer.

"I haven't seen you since you were this big," He held his hand out as if patting an imaginary toddler's head, "How was your flight?"

He opened his arms to her, and she walked into them for a quick hug.

"It was alright," She replied.

"I really wish I could have come to get you myself," He said, putting his jacket onto the hook by the door, "How's your room? Do you like it?"

"Yeah," She said, and he smiled again.

"Good, good," He nodded, "Have you had a chance to explore yet? Come on, I can show you the back garden if you like, before dinner."

"Ok," Olivia said, and he smiled at her kindly.

"Maybe this weekend I can take you shopping," He offered as he brought her out the back door, "Before you start school on Monday. Kids have a little bit different style here."

* * *

"You ok?" Fitz broke the silence a little bit into the drive, maybe fifteen minutes.

"Yeah, I was just thinking," She replied, shaking her head like it was a necessary way to clear her head.

"What about?" He asked, "I mean, if you don't mind me asking."

"When I first got out here," She told him, without even thinking about it, "You know I've been on my own since I was twelve?"

"Twelve?" He repeated, like he thought he had misheard her.

"Yeah, that's when my parents died," She explained, not even sure why she felt comfortable telling him this. She never talked about it. Even some of her closest friends didn't even know that much about her, "A drunk driver hit their car, and they went right into a swamp, hit a tree and rolled over."

"Oh my God," Fitz said, "I'm sorry."

"It was a long time ago."

A lifetime ago, literally. She didn't even recognize the kid that appeared on Uncle Eli's doorstep.

"Who took care of you after that?"

"Officially, my uncle," She said, red flags popping in her brain like fireworks, but she kept talking, "But I was privately emancipated when I was fourteen."

"Rough life," He said quietly, in a mumble – and she pretended not to hear it.

"What about you?" She asked, and he quirked an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a single guy – what like twenty-five?" She said, leaning back in her seat, "And you live in a three bedroom house in a neighborhood? With kids that ride their bikes in the middle of the street?"

"You're twenty-one and you have a mansion that you're hiding from," He shot back, clearly she had hit a nerve.

"Touché," She said, almost under her breath, "Where are we?"

"Almost to where we're going," He said, and she gave him a look.

"Could you be more cryptic?"

"Do you trust me?" Fitz asked as he hit his blinker, to head off the highway.

"I don't know if I trust anyone," Olivia replied, and Fitz nodded slowly.

"Well, I assume that's an occupational hazard more than a personal character assessment," Fitz teased as he pulled down a now very narrow road, "Relax, we're just going up here to the right. There's an old Airfield up here."

"Airfield?"

"It's from World War II," He said, and Olivia chuckled.

"History Buff," She commented.

"I'm a pilot," He said, taking a deep breath, "I was a pilot in the Navy for a little while. Then when I became a firefighter – they were looking for people who could also fly the water jets when ththe wildfires start up. So, I was a priority trainee."

"You were in the Navy?"

"Don't believe me?" He asked, and she shook her head, "I've got the photos to prove it somewhere. I just never liked school, so I went in right after high school."

"But you're smart," She observed, and he shrugged, "So what's so special about these airfields?"

"Well," He said as he pulled down another side street, "They have an airshow today. Fighter pilots doing donuts in the sky."

"Seriously?" Olivia's eyes widened and Fitz nodded as he tossed her a baseball cap and a windbreaker.

The minute he turned the corner they came up on a field filled with cars, and an even bigger empty field behind it. She was out of the car, and half way around it by the time he got out, and she noticed that there was a spark in his eye that wasn't there normally. It was like a brief, fleeting second of feeling. A shooting star harnessed in his eyes before he put his sunglasses on and gave her a smile. God, he was beautiful. The jeans, the ratty gray t-shirt he had changed into after he showered, the jeans that somehow fit him perfectly and horribly at the same time. But it was his smile – it changed his whole face.

"What?"

"Nothing," She said, as he handed her a second pair of sunglasses.

"I promise you'll want them."

* * *

A/N: And now I shall rewatch this week's episode (now that I've calmed down three days later). "Are we really going to pretend that we don't know how this movie ends?" Oh my God, I love this Cyrus. Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter!


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